The Hindu : Sport : India rides on Ganguly’s sublime knock

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Monday, Dec 10, 2007
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India rides on Ganguly’s sublime knock

S. Dinakar

Irfan Pathan joins the party; another harrowing day for Pakistan

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

MAKING MERRY: Sourav Ganguly celebrates after scoring his maiden double century with Irfan Pathan, who also hit his first century, on the second day of the third Test on Sunday.

Bangalore: Sourav Ganguly paints the arena, his canvas, with strokes of rare beauty. Years fall back as he coaxes the ball into the open spaces.

Indeed, the ethereal quality in Ganguly’s batsmanship is spirit-lifting; a seemingly harmless push scorches the turf. The left-hander’s comeback, beginning last year, has been a triumph.

Ganguly’s 239 at the Chinnaswmay Stadium on Sunday is the highest individual Test score by a left-hander for India. Being the most prolific southpaw for the country, he deserves the honour.

Yet, his monumental effort here was not all about flair. He concentrated hard after reaching his first hundred, batted for the team. Apart from some exquisite stroke-play, it was an innings of watchfulness and consolidation.

The attack had been weakened and the pitch favoured batsmen. Ganguly (239, 361b, 30x4, 2x6) made the most of what was on offer in a hard-nosed, professional manner.

Highest total

India’s 626 is the highest Test total in Bangalore. With just three specialist bowlers for skipper Younis Khan to rotate, the Pakistan players chased the leather for most part. The omission of allrounder Shahid Afridi from the Test series has been a blunder.

For India, another Pathan produced a powerhouse display.

In fact, day two of the third and final IndianOil Test was another day of the left-handers. An effervescent Irfan Pathan, running out of partners, blasted Danish Kaneria over the mid-wicket ropes to bring up his maiden Test hundred. Is India closer to discovering a Test match allrounder?

After blitzing with the willow, Pathan swung the ball at a lively pace. He oozes confidence on his return to Tests. With a little luck, the left-armer could have struck.

The lone wicket for India — Pakistan ended a hard day 86 for one — was picked up by Anil Kumble. Pushing forward, Yasir Hameed was done in by a straighter, quicker one.

Left-handed opener Salman Butt (50 batting, 85b, 9x4) survived some anxious moments but also timed the ball well. With him at stumps was skipper Younis Khan.

Debutant paceman Ishant Sharma went for runs — the field placements were attacking — but impressed with his fluent run-up, speed and corridor bowling. He moved the ball away from the right-handed Hameed, but had problems bowling to the left-handed Butt.

The pitch still offers runs. However, a few deliveries did keep low from either end. One of them — from Yasser Arafat — crashed into Harbhajan’s stumps. Front-footed play is the answer for Pakistan.

Without Shoaib Akhtar’s thunderbolts, Pakistan struggled. Young paceman Arafat displayed a glimpse of ability and plenty of commitment to claim a five-wicket innings haul on debut. Mohammad Sami lacked consistency.

Again, Kaneria’s reluctance to bowl round the wicket to the southpaws was baffling. The Indians used their feet to unsettle the leggie. Kaneria finally got Ganguly on the sweep but must have realised that a defensive ploy seldom works against the Indian batsmen.

Arafat strikes

In the morning, Ganguly and Karthik handled the second new ball competently before Arafat struck.

Karthik was drawn to a delivery leaving him like moth to fire. Then, Pakistan ran into an all-left pair and the bowlers struggled with line.

The attack was also tiring and Pathan (102, 133b, 10x4, 4x6) launched into it. There is an unmistakable element of solidity in Pathan’s ways with the willow. He also has the big shots; the southpaw drove, cut and pulled with power.

And old memories came rushing back when Ganguly creamed Sami to the cover-boundary with minimum power and maximum timing.

Soon, there were four men in the arc between a squarish third man and cover but the ‘Dada’ still managed to find the boundaries.

For the first time, three southpaws scored hundreds for India in a single Test innings. Rightly, Ganguly led the left-handed tribe.

SCOREBOARD

India —Ist innings: W. Jaffer lbw b Arafat 17, G. Gambhir c Akmal b Sami 5, R. Dravid c Misbah b Arafat 19, S. Ganguly b Kaneria 239, V.V.S. Laxman b Arafat 5, Yuvraj c Faisal b Sami 169, D. Karthik c Akmal b Arafat 24, I. Pathan c Akmal b Kaneria 102, A. Kumble lbw b Kaneria 4, Harbhajan b Arafat 4, I. Sharma (not out) 0, Extras (b-13, lb-19, nb-6) 38; Total (in 150.2 overs) 626.

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Gambhir), 2-44 (Dravid), 3-51 (Jaffer), 4-61 (Laxman), 5-361 (Yuvraj), 6-427 (Karthik), 7-605 (Ganguly), 8-615 (Kumble), 9-620 (Harbhajan).

Pakistan bowling: Akhtar 10-3-23-0, Sami 36-5-149-2, Arafat 39-5-161-5, Kaneria 46.2-8-168-3, Younis 2-0-14-0, Butt 10-1-36-0, Hameed 7-0-43-0.

Pakistan — 1st innings: S. Butt (batting) 50, Y. Hameed lbw b Kumble 19, Younis (batting) 7, Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-4) 10; Total (for one wkt. in 27 overs) 86.

Fall of wicket: 1-59 (Hameed).

India bowling: Pathan 9-4-18-0, Ishant 7-3-39-0, Kumble 8-4-19-1, Ganguly 2-0-2-0, Harbhajan 1-0-2-0.

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